Jamie Ding hopes 'Jeopardy!' run shed 'positive light' on immigrants

Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAYWed, April 29, 2026 at 9:46 PM UTC

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After completing a historic run on the trivia game show "Jeopardy!", contestant Jamie Ding hopes his time on the program showed immigrants like him in a "positive light."

"As an immigrant and a person of color, I was able to become part of the history of an American institution," Ding told People in an exclusive interview after his April 27 loss. Speaking on the 31-game run that netted him $882,605 in winnings, Ding told the magazine that his stint on the show provided a much-needed platform to bring watchers together, especially in the face of recent government action.

"'Jeopardy!' really is an institution and America's turning 250 years old and the federal government is going after immigrants in a way unlike anything that we've seen in the recent past," he said. "So I hope that immigrants can be seen in a positive light, too."

Ding's run comes to an end after 31-show streak

The Princeton grad's winning streak ended on Monday, April 27, when competitor Greg Shahade came out on top after a Final Jeopardy question asked contestants to name the first and last of South Africa's 12 official languages alphabetically.

While all three got the question right, Shahade had been in the lead by a solid $16,000 and ended up with a nearly $14,000 leg-up on Ding in what the latter called a "runaway" win.

"I think my last game is unusual, because I was a super champ, but I also lost in a runaway, which I feel like is the first time that ever happened," he told People. "It almost makes me feel better about the thing because there wasn't really one clue or whatever that everything hinged on."

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Ding signed off with a final message for fans while submitting his Final Jeopardy answer: "TTFN!" he wrote, shorthand for "ta ta for now."

Despite the loss, the New Jersey native said he cherished the messages he received throughout filming.

"I kept hearing how it was bringing people together, and I love that very much," he said. "I've heard people say, 'It's nice to have something positive on TV!'

Ding is set to return for the show's season-ending Tournament of Champions, a two-week postseason event pitting the highest-performing contestants from the regular season against each other.

Contributing: Melina Khan, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Jeopardy!' champ Jamie Ding says Feds are 'going after immigrants'

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